CURRENT MISSION

Current mission, for this trip: bring Burmese art across the world, and bring stray Burmese books and antiques back to Burma.

ABOUT ME

You might not have thought there was an intersection between public health, making dictionaries, and art, but there is and I am at it.

I teach Burmese, mainly to people working with Burmese refugees and migrants (though an occasional academic comes along as well).

I wrote a textbook for addressing the main issues and misconceptions about health in the Burmese sphere.

My partner and I have an art gallery which funds a research library in Yangon. We promote Burmese art around the world, with the hope of deepening the understanding of Burma around the world — now even many well-informed most people know just a stark outline of facts about the country. And our library lets Burmese and foreign researchers get deeper into their fields of interest, usually with the help of numerous cups of strong tea or shots of espresso.

Oh, and I do lots of other things, like Critical Mass Chiang Mai, general ecological dedication, volunteer tutoring, donation of skills, etc.

PHILOSOPHY

The world isn't great, but it is better than it was, as that is because the ancestors of us all contributed in one way or another. We should not be using up all this accumulated social and cultural capital, but contributing to it.

我为什么加入 Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I am just starting, but am looking forward to showing people to Burmese side of Chiang Mai. And the friendly side of our balcony.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I am looking for my first couchsurfing experience on this site. I have a long history of unwebsited hosting, going back to my teenage years. However, it will be interesting to get further out of my network.

兴趣

Other people's minds, literature, current events, change toward freedom, art, fostering better health letting people do more of what they value.

• arts
• writing
• books
• literature
• cooking
• history
• volunteering

音乐、电影和书籍

I have not really had time to read for pleasure in a long time, and have been living away from much media for ten years, so don't even know what new brilliant books and movies are out there now. I keep hearing intriguing things about Iranian cinema.

我做过的一件不可思议的事情

I'll tell you in person, depending on what you find interesting, of course.

教，学，和分享

I can teach you the whole Burmese writing system in eight hours. But you might want to spend just three — that part is like a game, and makes you think differently about how to record sounds on paper.

I know how to make paper, too. And some people like the way I cook, though I am not sure there is a system to it that could be teased out.

I would like to learn a lot of things, but bookbinding is probably top of the list. Or tablet weaving.

我游览过的国家

Cambodia, China, Croatia, Estonia, France, Greece, Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Netherlands, Poland, Russian Federation, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Uzbekistan, Vatican City State, Viet Nam

我居住过的国家

Canada, Germany, Hungary, Myanmar, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States